THE RELUCTANT BRIDE

The Order of Carmelite Discalced is one of the religious orders in the Catholic Church which follow a radical way of life. If I to write about the nuns alone (excluding the Carmelite men religious), the first hard reality is that they are cloisterd. If I borrow the definition of Wikpedia, "A cloister (from Latin claustrum, "enclosure") is a rectangular open space surrounded by covered walks or open galleries, with open arcades on the inner side, running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a warm southern flank, usually indicates that it is (or once was) part of a monastic foundation, "forming a continuous and solid architectural barrier... that effectively separates the world of the monks from that of the serfs and workmen, whose lives and works went on outside and around the cloister". Kindly don't be scared by the word "Radical"above, but, it's important to keep that in mind. I would like to to quote one if the sayings of their reformer, St Teresa de Jesus (St Teresa of Avila) and probably you might get the gist of what I'm talking about. St Teresa was writing about how a person (A Carmelite nun for that matter) should renounce the World's standards of wisdom in order to attain to true wisdom. St Teresa de Jesus says

" Do you think that it was right for our good Jesus to have to suffer so many insults, and those who heaped them on Him were right, and that they had any right todo Him those wrongs? I do not know why anyone is in a convent who is willing to bear only the crosses that she has a perfect right to expect: such a person should return to the world, though even there such rights will not be safeguarded."- The Way of Perfection pg.83


Just writing about Cloisters, an anecdote pops in my mind which pushes me back in mid 1990s when I was in a secondary school. I can't just ignore how we used to run around the Benedictine's monastery seeing only "Clausura, Clausura posts everywhere.( Clausura is kinder a "No entry" area). When I saw the Poor Clares for the first time ; say twenty years a go, begging for food at the market in Songea, I had very vague ideas about who were they, and it never occurred to me that one day I would even "consider" this kind of life.

Back to the point, it is important to note that for quiet sometime now, I have been thinking about the Order of the Carmelite Discalced. O Carmel! I never thought that I will dare to even write an email enquiring about you! O Carmel, how I'm falling in love with you bit by bit! Still, I don't know where our Good Lord is leading me (I truly TRUST in him and his timings). If I look back in my life, I can't deny the fact that I feel like "A Reluctant Bride"

Dear OCMs, I have been invited to visit the nuns (OCD) in Finland and If God Wills, my Spiritual Director might join me. I will keep you updated. By the way, I'm still waiting for a reply from other Carmelite nun in Tanzania.


Please pray for a Reluctant Bride!

Best n' Peace,

Piccola- Marie of the Eucharist!(I have fallen in love with the Nazarene Carpenter)